'That’s Not Like My Mother At All': Family of Woman Missing Since Mother’s Day Suspect Foul Play

The family of a Missouri mother missing since Mother’s Day believe that there was foul play involved and are offering a $7,000 reward for information in the case.

Echo Michelle Lloyd, 48, was last seen in Benton County, Missouri on May 10, 2020, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Missing Persons Clearinghouse. Lloyd’s family realized that something was amiss when her daughter, 28-year-old Kelsey Smith, traveled to Lloyd’s home in Edwards, Missouri to deliver a Mother’s Day present but was met with no answer when she knocked on the door, NBC News' Dateline reports. Smith left the gifts on the porch and tried calling her the following morning but didn't receive a response; she then went back to her mother’s home and, when she again received no response when calling out for her, broke in through a window.

Lloyd’s house did not look to be in disarray, but Smith said that her mother would not have left things the way she found them, according to Dateline. Lloyd’s purse, containing her wallet, ID, and cash, was in her bedroom, but her keys, pistol, cell phone, and medication were missing, she said.

“I could tell someone else had been there - someone, but not my mother,” Kelsey told Dateline. “It wasn’t ransacked, but there was a pile of trash ... and food with mold. That’s not like my mother at all. She’s OCD. She wouldn’t have left the house like this.”

Smith reported her mother’s disappearance to the authorities and they have been searching for her since.

Lloyd’s family said in July that they believe that foul play was involved in the disappearance of the mother of four.

”We don’t feel that she decided to leave her life or is gone of her own free will,” Lloyd’s cousin, Mary Dubray, told local outlet KY3. “We feel, as the family, there is definitely foul play involved.”

A reward for information leading to the discovery of her whereabouts has been raised to $7,000, an amount made up of donations from Lloyd’s friends as well as from strangers, according to CNN.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office said in May that they had no reason to suspect foul play. They confirmed to CNN that the investigation is ongoing but did not comment further. In September, the office said in a Facebook post that “tips and leads” had slowed down and asked for more information from the public.

“Someone out there has information about Echo,” that post reads. “I would ask you to come forward and help us bring Echo home.”

Lloyd is 5’4 and weighs around 110 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She has her children’s names — Kelsey, Kace, Kaitlyn, and Kylie — tattooed on her wrist, and the words “Let it be” tattooed on her forearm. Anyone with any information on the case is encouraged to contact the Benton County Sheriff’s Office at 660-438-6135 or the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 573-526-6178.